Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is widely considered to be one of the top 2-3 head coaches in the NFL. That does not mean he’s without his flaws, though.
During a recent appearance on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast, Sean McVay expressed regret over the way he handled trading quarterback Jared Goff — whom he went to a Super Bowl with — to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford, whom he later won a Super Bowl with.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay revealed he has regrets over the way he handled trading away Jared Goff
“I’m super sensitive to what an amateur I was with the Goff situation,” McVay said. “You want to talk about lack of courage, lack of clarity, lack of ability to be able to look somebody in the eye that you’ve had a lot of really cool experiences with and tell ’em, ‘Hey, not easy to say but we might explore an opportunity to acquire Matthew Stafford and you’ll be a part of a trade there.'”
McVay said he avoided the conversation entirely — and acknowledged the avoidance was about his own shortcomings, not Goff’s performance.
“It was more really about me than it was ever him. I didn’t handle that the right way. Did I ever have the courage to really sit him down after that season in 2020 and really tell him, ‘Hey, there’s a possibility that we’ll explore some avenues that might lead to you not being our quarterback moving forward’? No.”
McVay highlighted that the aspect of the situation that stuck with him the most was learning what bothered Goff the most about the whole situation: “He was caught off guard. ‘Where did this come from?'”
“If you love people enough, you gotta keep it real with them. There’s always this balance of empathy but also more importantly the honesty for people,” he added.
Sean McVay wished he handled the Jared Goff trade differently pic.twitter.com/3JgisoCpc0
— Bussin’ With The Boys (@BussinWTB) May 19, 2026
The Rams sent Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 to Detroit in exchange for Stafford, who won a Super Bowl and MVP during his time with the Rams, ensuring his eventual enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The deal marked the first time that former No. 1 overall picks in the common draft era — Stafford went first overall in 2009, Goff in 2016 — were exchanged.
Goff has since gone on to become the Lions franchise quarterback, as he signed a four-year, $212 million extension with the team and led them to their first NFC Championship Game appearance since 1991.